It has always been a challenge for a hunter harvesting large game to process a downed animal. Processing typically includes transporting the animal carcass back to camp, hanging the entire animal from a tree or other overhead support in order to clean it, and then to cool it down out of reach of predators. Eventually the hanging animal carcass is lowered for further dressing, butchering and removal from the camp site. The challenges faced in raising and lowering a large animal carcass and in then releasing it from its hanger are considerable. Similarly, raising and lowering a side of beef or pork waiting for processing in a commercial meat packinghouse, in a game processing plant, or in a private butcher shop presents comparable challenges as at a hunter's campsite. Heretofore, there have been load-bearing hooks designed especially for use in carrying a side of meat or freshly harvested large game animals.
Looking toward the prior art in U.S. Pat. No. 5,415,450 to Faxon, disclosed is a load lifting hook construction that is equipped with a control eye that is attachable to a control rope that parallels a suspension rope. In Faxon, a person located above the lifting hook can selectively pull the suspension rope and control the rope to manipulate the hook into, or out of, engagement with the load via pivoting at the main hook support eye 12. The tip of the hook in Faxon is spaced a relatively great distance from the suspension axis so that the hook has a relatively large mouth, see FIGS. 1 and 2, wherein also the hook is also enabled to extend into relatively small openings in the load to be lifted. With Faxon a variety of different types of loads can be remotely controlled and lifted, using the hook structure of this invention.
Continuing in the prior art in U.S. Pat. No. 5,676,084 to Palmer, et al., disclosed is a retrievable boat mooring device for reversible attachment to an off-shore oil platform. The mooring device in Palmer includes a modified U-shaped hook, one end of which is attached to a cable. A tubular Nylon rope in Palmer is attached to the other end of the hook, and the cable and the rope are attached to one another. The free end of the cable in Palmer terminates in a loop for grasping and pulling the cable. The mooring device in Palmer is secured to the platform by casting the hook over a stationary elongated horizontal support, and is retrieved by pulling on the cable loop, thereby drawing the hook over and away from the stationary horizontal support, see FIGS. 1 and 2. The advantage of Palmer over the present state of the art is that it enables one to tie a boat to and untie a boat from an off-shore oil platform without having to come dangerously near the platform.
Further, in the prior art in U.S. Pat. No. 7,052,057 to Hiles, disclosed is a dragging and gaffing device for dragging a game animal and for gaffing a fish or marine animal, that includes a hook member configured in a predetermined shape having a tapered end portion and a second end portion. The hook member in Hiles is provided with a predetermined opening between the tapered end portion and the second end portion, further a flexible strap member is operably connectable to the hook member so that the strap member serves as a handle and an attachment to connect the hook member to an external pulling mechanism, see FIGS. 2-7. In Hiles, the device distributes the weight of the game animal or the fish or marine animal to the ground requiring little or no lifting, see column 1, lines 29-40.
Next, in the prior art in U.S. Pat. No. 4,004,770 to Karass, disclosed is a hook and a hook assembly adapted in particular to suspend a meat carcass using a sling made of band type material. The hook in Karass includes a body having a suspending portion and a hooking portion defining a “J” form configuration, a horizontally extending flat portion to flatly receive the sling, a protruding lip portion extending from the suspending portion and defining a lower straight edge overlying the flat portion, and disposed below the tip of the hooking portion defining a spacing between the suspending and hooking portions which is smaller than the width of the band material to prevent the sling from jumping off from the hook, see FIGS. 1 and 2 in particular.
Also, in the prior art in U.S. Pat. No. 4,182,004 to Haring, Jr., et al., disclosed is an improved one-piece thermoplastic meat hook for use in carrying meat products such as beef, pork, etc. The meat hook in Haring is a single molded piece of plastic formed by injection molding and characterized by having an annular cross section with reinforcing stiffening ribs around semicircular end portions and along the length thereof for increasing the amount of tensional load that can be placed thereon, see FIGS. 1 to 7.
In addition, in the prior art in Japanese Publication Number 02-198998 to Hisato, disclosed is a slip off hook (1) designed for un hooking loads by using two cables, being a suspending member (c) connected to a winch and a hook tilting member (d), for releasing the load with human intervention, i.e. the hook is underwater, see section A prior art paragraph. Hisato also has a slip off prevention tool (3) that includes a freely movable weight (8) inside a cylinder (6) that is pivotally attached at (5) being operational to pivot to positively close the hook (1) at the hook mouth (2) as shown in FIG. 1, and in reverse to allow removal of the load (a) sling (b) at the hook mouth (2) as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3. This occurs in Hisato as the weight (8) slides within the cylinder (6) forcing the tool (3) to pivot or swivel at (5) when member (d) is pulled as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, also see section 3 in the problems the invention attempts to solve paragraph. All the aforementioned components in Hisato require gravity to work, such that the hook goes from the state shown in FIG. 1 to as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3.
Accordingly, there exists a need for a retainer apparatus designed to be swingably suspended to hold a load in a first stable position with an automatic retainer to hold the load on the hook, and when desired, the retainer apparatus to be selectably rotated to release the load from the hook while manually retracting the automatic retainer.